Palette
by animeparody
Summary: K short stories. Including EMBER, COAL and SHADES OF BLUE. now in one series. Hopefully I can update regularly.
1. Smoke

**(Smoke)**

It's a nice place. It's just like Izumo's bar. Only there's no second floor and the front door is locked. But it's fine in here.

Tatara sat on a barstool, his arms on the bar counter, replaying his memories of the bartender.

A good friend. He regretted leaving him behind. He regretting leaving.

His thoughts are interrupted when the the tinkle of a bell signals the door opening and the familiar heavy footfalls cause Tatara to abruptly stand to face the person.

"You… why…"

_No… no… no! Not him… he can't be here!_

"Yo. You look well."

_It's him._

"King… what are you doing here."

His voice is shaking.

Silence.

"King! If you're here then… then you're dead!"

"Guess I am."

_No… no!_

"King! You can't be dead!"

Suoh's expression didn't change as Tatara's hands clutched the collar of his shirt, his soft voice becoming a yell of shock, anger and pain.

"So even you can get sad and angry."

"What about Homura? Yata? Anna? Izumo? You can't leave them behind! They… they…"

Tatara's voice left him as he sank down to the floor, all his energy gone.

"Just like you left them."

_I left them too… right…_

The memory of Izumo's expression as he watched him die…

"I guess that makes me a hypocrite…"


	2. Ember

**(Ember)**

* * *

_(KUSANAGI IZUMO)_

Kusanagi knows well what will happen to Mikoto when his Weissman Level reaches its limit. He also knows what Mikoto will do to make sure that when he dies, nobody else will.

Tatara knew too. Both want to die with their king when the time comes. But they know Mikoto won't let that happen. So when Tatara dies, he can't help but think something selfish.

"At least you'll be with Mikoto soon."

He knows how selfish he sounds. But maybe that's because he realises that soon, he'll be alone.

Alone.

He doesn't want that.

So he doesn't tell anyone what he thought that night. Well, almost.

Later they sit down. Look at Tatara's last video. The video the records his death. Ironic. The last recording of someone who recorded all of Homura's happiest moments, was the most despairing thing they have ever seen.

He sees it. How Tatara dies. And every second he thinks, I wish I could've stopped that. I WANT to stop that. But it doesn't change anything. Tatara is gone and he'll never come back.

Homura starts to move out right after that. They want to destroy the killer, the colorless king. They will burn him, until not even ashes remain. They will get revenge. Damn the fact that it's a king they're after, if the murderer speaks the truth.

One evening, the whole of Homura is out and Izumo's alone in his bar. Sitting on the floor of a back room with some of his alcohol storage, the door shut tight, Izumo lets himself break.

Tatara is gone. Soon, so will Mikoto. Soon, he'll be alone. Alone. Alone. Alone. The word resounds in his head. He picks up a glass, fills it, and starts to drinks as much as he can.

Izumo doesn't just break. He shatters into pieces.

Sometime after, when he is finally drunk, Izumo finds a coil of rope in the corner of the room. He is not very drunk yet, but his mind is foggy, his movements sluggish and his thoughts jumbled. He downs the remains of his glass and sits down, the rope in his lap.

Half the time he doesn't realize what he's doing, only that his hands are working the rope into something. Tatara's death and Mikoto soon inevitable demise are the only things that are in his thoughts now.

He doesn't spent how much time he spends, sitting there, tying the rope. It feels like hours but it could be minutes. But when his vision clears slightly he sees that the rope in his hands has turned into a noose.

A noose.

"Maybe I'll follow Mikoto and Tatara after he dies…"

He doesn't realize that he said that out loud. He doesn't realize that for the past five minutes someone has been standing in the open doorway watching him finger the noose, that he has heard what Izumo said until he is being harshly yanked up be the neck of his shirt and is staring into Mikoto's angry amber eyes.

"Mikoto…"

The word comes out slightly slurred. Their eyes are directly in contact, his trademark shades somewhere on his bar counter. In other words, there is nothing that stop Mikoto from seeing the turmoil of emotions behind his friends eyes.

"Izumo, don't you even think about…"

That's odd. Even after that much alcohol, the edge of his vision shouldn't be black yet.

"What are you thi- Izumo?"

Izumo's mind is barely registering Mikoto' voice. It's going softer by the second.

"Izumo?"

"Hah… Mikoto…"

The world spins once, before his vision goes black.

When Izumo comes to, it takes him a while to register the fact that he's awake, because something soft has been placed over his eyes. Something wet.

Cloth. The word registers in his mind before he attempts to make his hands listen to him and remove the cloth. His small effort is halted, when another person's hand stops his from moving and places it back by his side.

"Izumo, when was the last time you ate?"

Ate. Food. With all that had happened, the thought of feeding himself has left his mind entirely.

"Izumo? How long did you go without food?"

His voice comes out hoarse.

"A few days I think."

He only tells Mikoto days, and not how long he actually realizes it is.

"Izumo."

But his king realizes that he's not being truthful.

"… a little over a week."

He hears a sigh.

"Izumo."

"Don't worry I'll just go get something to eat…"

It's taking him a lot of effort to prevent his voice from breaking. His throat is sore and his mouth is dry.

"Ne, how long did I sleep?"

"Five hours. It's one in the morning now."

"Ne, Mikoto. It isn't good for you to stay up so late-"

"Izumo."

His grip on the bartender's hand tightens, and Izumo knows that want Mikoto wants is an explanation, not empty reassurances.

"When you leave, Tatara will be waiting for you."

His mind is still foggy from the alcohol, Mikoto reasons. There's no way Izumo would say something like that straight at him if he was sober.

"Both of you will leave me alone…"

Mikoto doesn't know why he's grabbed Izumo by the front of his shirt, just like when he heard about his suicide plans. He freezes when he realises that Izumo is shaking. That he is crying. That right now his second in command is broken and he doesn't know what to do.

The first thing that corns to mind is how he's let this happen without noticing. Over the week, he hasn't noticed at all how Izumo has deteriorated. Mikoto only notices the bags under his eyes, the pale shade his skin has taken and how tired he looks. The only thing he can do is let go of Izumo, tear his eyes away from his broken face and lend him his shoulder to cry on.

It goes on for an hour until he loses whatever energy he had and collapses in Mikoto's arms again, succumbing to his fatigue.

It's a good eleven hours until he wakes up again, and hurriedly puts his mask back on again, but Mikoto makes sure that he eats a full meal and tells Anna and Kamamoto to do so in case he's not there.

The rest if the clan don't question why Izumo has woken up so late, why their king seems to be watching him more closely or why he asks Anna ad Kamamoto to keep an eye on him. They understand that even Homura's second in command is not invincible.

The night before they raid the weapons dealer's lair, after Mikoto tells Izumo his plan, Mikoto gets Izumo to make a promise. A promise that if he dies, Izumo won't follow him, or even try to. Izumo is reluctant and it takes a lot of persuading on Mikoto's part for him to give. Even then, Mikoto is not entirely sure he will keep it. But his promise is the only thing he has to hold on to.

Time passes. Mikoto is captured by Sceptre-4. They find Tatara's muderer. They become so much more closer to extracting revenge. The blues get in their way. Mikoto breaks out if jail. They find the killer's hideout and take over the School Island. A war between them and the blue calm erupts. They discover the truth.

All through this Izumo knows that the time when Mikoto will leave is growing closer by the second. And he can't do anything but watch. It hurts. It hurts so much.

Then it happens.

Mikoto dies.

Izumo can see him when the blue king's sabre runs through Mikoto. He's nowhere near the king but if he closes his eyed he can see every single detail. He sees that his king is smiling. That small, resigned smile. He's smiling because he died alone, and he didn't kill several thousand people with him. Even Munakata's face is grim. It's clear that he did not want to resort to this. But the world narrows down to the fact that Mikoto's is gone, and finally Izumo is alone.

It takes a week for everything to settle and the truth to sink in. It also take a week for Izumo to break his promise.

Unfortunately, the others are out. The rest of Homura has spread themselves around the city, going to their little pockets of isolation to wallow in despair or drink away their sorrows. Well, most.

Anna is still here.

Anna is always here.

"I'm still here. And I'll always be here."

It's her voice that cuts through the haze of his mind, her hands that stop him from deepening the shard of glass in his wrists and her eyes staring into him that makes him break.

_He dreams of a lonely void._

_Alone._

_Tatara._

_Alone._

_Mikoto._

_Alone._

_Tatara, Mikoto._

_Alone._

_Where are you?_

_Alone._

_I'm alone…_

_Alone._

_Alone._

_Alone._

* * *

_(KUSHINA ANNA)_

All the members of Homura have different reds. None are the same.

Yata's red is wild, uncontrollable, but always burns with purpose. Izumo's red is steady, it spreads out slowly and temper some of the more wild flames, like Yata.

Totsuka's red is the most different. It's glows softly, spreads over everyone and keeps them together. It makes the others calm. But she can't really describe it, because its gone now. It's harder to remember something you know you'll never see again. When Totsuka's becomes a dull grey, a crack appears in the marble.

Mikoto's red is warm but never burns. It envelops the others like Tatara's but is more like a lion that stands protectively in front of them. She holds on that memory as firmly as she can, because she doesn't want to lose it. When even that disappears, another crack apears in the marble.

Izumo's red has changed. Now it's flickering, dying out. When she looks closer it seems as if its trying to make itself die out. She's afraid of losing anything else. Afraid of seeing another red go dull.

So she watches the last pillar, watching it break without knowing how to fix it.

Tatara would have known.

Anna reminds herself that Tatara is not there. Not anymore.

She looks at Izumo's red this time. It's much more dull than before, but at least it's not near grey yet. It gets brighter for a while, but gets full again. It alternates between growing brighter and dulling the whole time so Anna firmly plants herself by his side in worry. She canon afford to lose the last pillar.

A small crack appears in the marble. Though not as large as the other two cracks, it is nevertheless a crack. But sw tries her best to hold the marble together.

Five minutes.

Half an hour.

One hour.

_When will he wake?_

Two hours.

Three hours.

_Soon?_

Four hours.

Five hours.

_Will he ever wake?_

Six hours.

Seven hours later, Anna falls asleep.

Nine hours later, she wakes to find him gone.

In the trash can, is a lone shard of glass with flecks of dried blood on it. On the floor, the shattered remains of the glass it had come from.

Anna tears out the door so fast that she crashes into the figure on the sidewalk.

She looks up, and she sees her aunt.

Anna's been with Homura for a long time. She's been there even since she was eight. Both her parents died in an accident and she was left in care of Kushina Honami, her aunt. She stayed with Honami for a short amount of time but she was later left in the care of Suoh Mikoto, her former student. Honami had her own children to look after and left her specifically in Mikoto's care because she knew she was a strain. It wasn't that she wanted to get rid of Anna, oh no. She chose Mikoto because she thought it would be better for Anna to be with someone like her.

Mikoto was glad for Anna. She was one of the few who did not look at him with fear, intimidation or 'the red king'. She merely saw him just Suoh Mikoto. She even called him by his first name when they met.

"Anna?"

She is hesitant, and Anna knows something bad is going to happen. She starts to walk away.

"Anna, I'm here to take you back with me."

"No."

She keeps walking. The clicking sound of her aunts heels follow.

"Come on Anna. Grab your stuff and let's leave."

"No."

"Anna, we're going."

"No. I'm not leaving."

Anna stops to turn.

Honami's face is now pulled into a tight frown, and she gives Anna a stern glare.

"You can't stay here."

"Why not?"

Anna is staring back at her, their eyes locked, but her face expressionless.

"I left you in Suoh's care. Now he's dead. You're left with a gang of brutish men. You're coming back with me. Homura is a bad influence on you."

"No. You're wrong."

Anna is backing away from her unconsciously, her voice rising in clear anger.

"Homura isn't bad. I'm staying with them. Homura is my family."

"Nonsense. You're too young to be able to think about these sort of matters. You're coming back with me."

"No I'm not."

"You're coming back with me to a real family-"

The second she hears the word family, the marble shatters.

"My family is Homura. I'm it's princess and I will always be here."

Honami is stunned, but her shock turns into anger.

"You're coming with me, wether you like it or not!"

Her hand reaches out to grab Anna's arm, but recoils when it is met with a layer of flames.

"Anna stop this! You cannot stay with Homura-"

"I'M NOT LEAVING!"

All of her pent up emotions from Tatara's death until know blows, accompanied by a sphere of red flames that engulfed her small figure.

"I'M NOT LEAVING HOMURA AND YOU CAN'T MAKE ME!"

The street blows, and in the cover of dust and debris, Anna turns and runs.

"Anna!"

She hears Yata and Kamamoto call out her name, but doesn't stop or even turn, because she hears Honami calling her too. Anna doesn't want to look at Homami. She doesn't want to look at the person who is supposed to be her aunt. She doesn't want to look at the person who wants to take her away from Homura.

She runs, with tears in her eyes. Running to somewhere, anywhere. She wants to be with Mikoto. With Totsuka. She wants to rewind time and start over. But she can't. She will never see Tatara's kind smile or Mikoto's warm red ever again.

* * *

_[Console in silence.]_

"I actually managed to sneak out…"

It is common to see young people sneaking into graveyards at night in groups to give each other a good scare near Halloween, but it not so common to see a rather sad looking young man walking into a graveyard in the dead of the night near Christmas.

He watched the light snow fall around him, a thin coat of white blanketing the cemetery.

"Now then, how long will it take for them to find me?"

As he neared two gravestones on the edge of the graveyard, he felt weariness overcoming him.

"Maybe I'll really join you two…"

Anna ran, letting her subconscious guide her, for she knew it could only take her to one place. All three of Homra's pillars would be there…

Her body stopped, and she did not need to look far for the blonde was asleep beside his two friends.

She joined him.

"Tatara."

The said man turned to look at Anna, his half finished glass of water in his hands.

"Tatara doesn't fight like the rest right?"

"Yep!"

"Why not?"

"Same reason as you I guess. I can't really fight. In fact I suck at it."

"Just that?"

"Well, also because I can't really bring myself to hurt others. Maybe that's why I have so many hobbies eh? Because I want to find something that I'm good at."

If only I could go back to that time and never leave.

"-nna. Anna. Up now, princess."

Anna wakes, and tenses, grabbing Izumo's arm.

Kushina Honami sighs.

"It looks like only death will do you and Homra apart. Fine. Goodbye then Anna."

Anna doesn't let go until Honami is gone, long gone.

"You sure you don't want to go with her?"

"She's going to the states you know. You'll probably never see her again."

"I'm fine like this."

"Suit yourself."

"As long as you're staying."

"The princess's wish is mine to obey."


	3. Silvery Ashes

**(Silvery Ashes)**

Kusanagi Izumo doesn't often go out to drink at another bar. That much is obvious, the man owns a bar himself. But there are times when he seeks some alone time from the rest of Homura. Their rowdiness can reach rather unbearable levels at times. But his purpose for seeking solitude that night is that he wants to drink his ass off in light of Mikoto's death. And Tatara. He doesn't want to break down in front of the rest of his clan. Their spirit's broken enough as it is. At least he had anger to distract him when Tatara died. They were sad for a while but that sadness was replaced by anger the desire for vengeance. But Mikoto chose to die. They couldn't get angry at the blue king the same way they were furious at the colourless king.

Yatogami Kuroh is not one whom you would picture walking aimlessly around at night deep in sorrow. With his uptight attitude you would expect him to have an ice cold heart that rivaled Sceptre-4's Awashima Seri. But he was currently roaming the cities streets, hoping to distract himself from the sorrow that followed Isana Yashiro's death. Isana Yashiro. Also known as Adolf , the silver king. The boy was a complex person. A tale of sorrow hidden behind a mask of smiles, easygoingness and mischievousness. For someone whom he had known for such a short period of time, he felt great pain when the fact that he was dead had fully sunk in. Neko was currently at the gold kings building, the group and him having built some trust after Yashiro's death. Yashiro, as Weissman, had been a good friend of the gold kings and Neko took a liking to the kind man who would tell her tales of Shiro back in the past, and his late sister, Claudia. The aged man had said Neko resembled Claudia quite bit.

The men did not notice the other's presence, too far lost in mourning, until they quite literally crashed into each other.

"My apologies, I did not notice-"

"It's fine, I wasn't paying attention-"

Both noticed each other's identity only then, their words dying.

"The black hound, Yatogami Kuroh right?"

"You would be Homura's second in command correct? Your name…"

"Kusanagi Izumo. So, what brings you out in a night like this?"

The red clansman looked worn out, Kuroh observed. His face was slightly pale, and his eyes looked tiredness. Kuroh was prepared to claim that his sunglasses were hiding bags.

"No special reason. Just trying to clear my head."

The hound looked lost. Izumo could guess why he wanted to clear his head. He heard that the black hound had sworn loyalty to the silver king. A now dead king. Just like me, he thinks.

"How about you?"

"Eh?"

"What brings you out on this night?"

"Just seeking solitude from the rest of my clan."

The blonde man looks tired and worn, Kuroh notices. It's easy to figure out why. Suoh Mikoto's death leaves the entire of Homura at Kusanagi's hands. His king is dead. Just like mine, he thinks.

"So, your king-less too right?"

Kuroh flinches slightly before responding.

"Yes. Like you."

The hound looks lost. A good analogy would be that Yatogami Kuroh looked like a stray dog. But Izumo is rather sure the black hound will not like being likened to a stray so the bartender keeps his mouths shut.

"You wanna go drink your ass off?"

Kuroh blinks at him, ignoring the crude language the man uses, and merely states.

"I'm eighteen."

"So?"

"I'm underaged."

"Don't worry. I know a few places where they won't ask for identification. And besides, you look old enough to pass of as 21."

Kuroh shifts uncomfortably and his first thought is to politely decline.

The words that come out of his mouth however, belay the thoughts of his heart.

"Okay then."

Izumo just grins and drags the man off.

* * *

It is roughly two hours later when Yata, Bandou and Dewa find themselves running around the city looking for a potentially suicidal bartender who has seemingly forgotten to tell his worried comrades that he is going out drinking.

"Seriously? Where the hell is he?"

"Where would Kusanagi-San go at night?"

They are understandably frustrated. They are worried about Kusanagi Izumo's mental state.

Yata rounds a corner and literally crashes into a pink-haired girl.

"Nya!"

"Sorry! I wasn't looking! Are you alright?"

The girl gets up and Yata finds himself staring at mismatched eyes; one the colour of fresh grass and the other like a clear sky.

"It's fine, nya!"

The girl peers closely at Yata for a second before loudly exclaiming,

"Your the really loud person on a skateboard from the red clan!"

By that time Dewa and Bandou had joined with Yata and they warily look at the girl. If she knows about Homra, she might be from another clan.

"Neko-dono, that's Yatagarasu, Homura's vanguard. Please watch yourself. He's the third person you crashed into."

A cool voice cuts through the growing tension.

"Nya! But you're too slow Hakase!"

The trio immediately become alert when they see the golden attire of the girl's companion.

"Usagi! Then you're both from the gold clan? What are you doing here?"

The man, though he looks like a teenager, gives a small laugh at Dewa's statement.

"I am , yes, a gold clansmen but Neko-dono her is from the silver clan."

"I thought the silver king didn't have any clansmen."

"She became a silver clansmen quite recently."

"Isn't the silver king dead?"

Hakase resisted the urge to face-palm when the words left Bandou's mouth. He glances at Neko and sure enough,

**"SHIRO! IS! NOT! DEAD!"**

It took fifteen minutes to save Bandou from the cat strain's rage and calm her down. But she was still glaring at the hooded man.

"Ah well she is a bit, how should I say this?, touchy when it comes to the topic of Sir Weissman."

"You could say that again…"

"Now I believe we haven't had a proper introduction. I'm Hakase, Kokujyouji-sama's second in command. This is Neko, she is a cat strain from the silver clan."

"Yata Misaki from Homura, the guy Neko just mauled is Bandou Saburota and the last guy here is Dewa Masaomi."

Hakase, unlike most of the Usagi they have seen, is not wearing a mask. So they can see his polite smile falter when Neko digs her nails in his arm deeper, still glaring at Bandou but this time from behind Hakase.

"Now it seems that like us you are looking for something or someone."

"Your looking for someone? Maybe we can help each other. We're looking for Kusanagi-San."

"Kusanagi Izumo eh? We're looking for Yatogami Kuroh."

"The black hound? Why are you looking for him? Wait, he's a silver clansman ain't he?"

"Yes, he is. Yatogami Kuroh is Neko-dono's companion. She is worried as he has not returned after two hours."

The conversation is interrupted by the vibration of a PDA that Hakase extracts from his pocket.

"Hmm? Yes Akira? You found him? Good. Where? And the reason you can't break that up is? Who? Alright. I'm on my way. Just make sure the situation doesn't escalate."

Hakase pockets the PDA and addresses the waiting Homura members and a cat who is digging her nails into his arm very painfully.

"We have located Yatogami and it seems that Kusanagi Izumo is with him."

* * *

Ten minutes later they arrive at a bar, where another maskless Usagi is waiting.

"Aniue, they're in there. And they are knocking out about half of the other men whilst drunk."

"You're sure they're drunk?"

"Have you ever seen Yatogami Kuroh laughing his head off?"

Hakase and Yata walk to the window and see that half of the men are attacking and getting their butts kicked by Kuroh and Izumo while the other half is cheering. The two are right in the eye of the storm, surrounded. But it's clear that they're drunk because they're tacking their attackers out with a smile on their face whilst entertaining the crowd. Izumo sidesteps a large burly man aiming to punch his face and sends him tumbling into a table, while Kuroh dodges the men's sloppy attacks and spins around laughing. The watchers erupt in laughter and Yata can see that some are placing bets. Yata an Hakase stand transfixed, watching. There are no more opponents but the men have not stopped chanting. In fact, they are chanting louder.

"FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!"

They only catch on when Izumo's punch makes contact with Kuroh's chest and Kuroh's fist slams into Izumo's arm.

* * *

Ten minutes later they have a disorientated Kuroh and a groggy Izumo in a back alley a good distance from the bar. Luckily Neko's illusion abilities was able to help them get the drunken duo out without too much trouble.

Kusanagi winced as he shifted his dislocated arm, casting an apologetic look to Kuroh, who was trying to to breathe normally with his cracked ribs. Nothing like pain to get you sober in minutes.

"Kusanagi-San, that looks really… painful."

Yata cast an uneasy glance at the limp arm.

"Don't worry… it's fine… just sec… I'm gonna try set it back…"

"Eh? Kusanagi-San? What are you-"

Crack!

A few swears escaped Izumo's lips before he firmly bites down on his tongue, pain exploding in his arm after he forcibly set back the bone.

"Kusanagi-San!"

Yata's worried yell is this time joined by Bandou and Dewa's voices.

"It's fine, it's fine!"

To prove his words he lifted his now functioning left arm.

"Okay, well it hurts like hell but at least it's still moving."

"That was really reckless!"

After roughly half an hour of scolding and reassuring, the two groups finally parted, each headed to back to their respective base of operations.

Though they met again the next day in the hospital after forcing Izumo and Kuroh to go.


	4. Aquamarine

**(Code: AQUAMARINE)**

Code Aquamarine. Fushimi doesn't hear those two words in the same sentence often. As a matter of fact, he only ever sees it on the small guide book of codes that the newbies get.

"We have a Code Aquamarine!"

Until today that is.

The bespectacled teen jumps when he hears that a blinks, unsure if he heard right.

"I repeat, we have a Code Aquamarine!"

Well his hearing is fine alright. There really is a Code Aquamarine right now. And Code Aquamarine is a very serious thing.

The Seceptre-4 base has a unique power core. Considering the obvious fact that it takes a lot of power to keep the building running, its obvious they need a very powerful core. So their power core is something called an Aquamarine, named after the colour. The core is something quite new, discovered only twenty years ago. An accidental chemical reaction caused the creation of the new energy source, Aquamarine. A small amount of it can contain a lot of energy. The amount of energy stored inside the Aquamarine that powers Sceptre-4's base is enough to feed Shizume city for a year. Without doubt, something like that is also very dangerous to handle. If the core blows, the entire Sceptre-4 HQ will disappear. Maybe even the entire city.

Code Aquamarine.

Meaning the core is going to blow.

_Shit._

The core is in a special room deep in the buildings basement, a room specially designed to prevent Code Aquamarine from happening. They all have been briefed on what to do if there is a Code Aquamarine issued and there are emergency stabilisers-

"The emergency stabilisers aren't working!"

_Well fuck._

Awashima's sharp voice is clear against the worried murmurs amongst the blue clansmen.

"Is there anyway to destroy it before it explodes?"

"No. There's a possibility of the radiation affecting us if we get near it."

"But if don't do something the base will blow. There's not enough time to evacuate our men."

That's when the feeling hits him. It's like the air has turned into fluid, the sounds muted and the colours more vibrant. He can no longer tell if he is breathing and his sense of time has slowed. There a name for this right? What was it? Oh yeah. Phantasmagoria.

When everything returns in a blast of noise and blaring red lights, Fushimi's mind is completely blank. He doesn't know why or exactly what he's doing but he can feel himself run out the door, past his frozen subordinates and Awashima's call unheard.

"Fushimi!"

"Oi, Kid!"

He doesn't hear Zenjou either. He just runs along several corridors, pushing open doors and running down a lot of stairs until he realises that he's standing in the doorway to the room that the Aquamarine is in.

He sees the glowing orb in surrounded by stabilisers and other devices, a long crack on its side.

_It's actually aquamarine? Off all the things to name it after they name it after the colour it is?_

The stray thought floats on the recesses of his mind and is joined by another.

_Everybody will die if it blows._

He doesn't know what possesses him to draw his sword and break out in a sprint towards the core. It's not like he cares about the lives of the members of Sceptre-4.

_Right?_

_He doesn't care… right?_

Awashima and Zenjou burst into the room in time to see Fushimi's blade slam into the core and the room explode in white.

Fushimi had time for one last stray thought before his vision went black.

_I am such an idiot._

* * *

"Shit."

Zenjou swore and attempted to clear the dust away from him, the remnants of the wall having protected him and Awashima from the the main force of the blast.

"Lucky it was just a small blast. If it was the core explosion we would be dead."

"Lieutenant Awashima, Zenjou, what happened?!"

Munakata ran down the hallway, his form slightly obscured by the dust chocked air.

"Fushimi… core… destroyed… Code Aquamarine…"

The dust that clogged their airways and made forming sentences a difficult task but Munakata understands what happened from the few words that Awashima manges to cough out.

He runs into the remain ants of the room, looking for his vanguard.

He finds his unmistakable thin figure lying amongst the debris, his sword a few good meters in front of him.

"Fushimi?"

Munakata turns the body face up and is relived to see that Fushimi is breathing, but his relief is dampened when he sees the blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.

"Awashima, get an ambulance."

"Yes sir."

* * *

_Phantasmagoria? Or a real dream?_

Fushimi has the sensation of floating in water, but he can breath. He can't see his hands or move them. He is surrounded by endless black.

_Shit… did I seriously die such a lame death?_

He doesn't know how long he spends just floating there in space until white starts creeping in his vision.

Huh?

His vision is overcome entirely with white until he realises that his eyes are focusing on something. He squints until he realises he's looking at a shadowed ceiling. He blinks, realising that he's awake and he is more importantly not dead.

He moves his head slightly but his body feels like lead.

"Next Fushimi, try a less reckless method."

He recognises the voice of the blue king and attempts to reply but his voice doesn't come.

He hears a sigh and a hand covers his eyes.

"Just take a break for now, Saruhiko."

He obliges, and sinks into the world of dreams.


	5. Haruhi Cyan

**(Haruhi Cyan)**

Zenjou, in his time under Munakata, has only led a strain retrieval mission once. That one time was right now.

It's a small team, only Hidaka and Domyouji, seeing as how the rest of sceptre-4 were dealing with their busted Aquamarine core and one of their high ranking officers is in the hospital.

There's a simple reason why Zenjou doesn't go on small team missions unless its with Munakata. Because his sole purpose in Sceptre-4 now is to be the demon that will drag the king to hell when he becomes tainted. Not a very good analogy, but it's what first comes to his mind.

He arrives at the destination, a large white house set on a lane with other houses. But oddly, it seems most of the other houses are for sale.

_No neighbours? The strain kid must be pretty troublesome._

Zenjou knocks on the door and a middle aged man answers, looking weary at first but greatly relieved when he sees who it is.

"Sceptre-4? Come in, come in. She's in her room."

Zenjou nods and follows the man to the back of the house, while a lady who he assumes is the man's wife stands by looking at him hopefully with tired eyes.

They stop at a door the colour of young wood, no sound coming from the other side.

"We really are grateful that your going to take her."

The man's tired voice is indeed filled with gratitude and Zenjou can detect some love for his daughter, unlike most parents who treat their strain children as pests and animals.

"We aren't really parents, we're her aunt and uncle, but we love her all the same. We would like for her to stay here with us but the neighbours… they don't sit well with the idea that she is a strain."

Zenjou nods, understanding what he means.

"And she has Cyanophobia."

Zenjou raises an eyebrow.

"If she has Cyanophobia then won't she-"

"Oh no! Don't worry. She won't freak out of she sees you. She's only affected by the lighter shades. Like the the colour of the sky and that gem, sapphire."

Cyanophobia.

Fear of the colour blue.

"What was the cause of the phobia?"

Sadness flickers on the man's eyes and his voice is solemn.

"Her eyes. They're the brightest shade of blue you'll ever see. Her parents didn't want a strain for a daughter. They wanted a normal child. Before they realised she was a strain they already detested her for having such bright eyes. She can't even look at a mirror without screaming."

"What's her ability?"

"Ah. Well, she screams. "

"Pardon?"

"It's called a sonic scream I believe. She is able to cause quite some damage… she destroyed her parents house with one scream, which was when her parents decided to leave her with us. We were given full custody over her."

Sonic scream? And she destroyed a house…

"Will she react to seeing the sky?"

"Well, yes but not so extremely."

"So well have to move her earliest at sundown."

"Well, I suppose."

"Can I speak to her? I've got three hours to kill until sundown."

"Alright. I'll just go first and tell her who you are."

The man goes in the room first and through the slightly ajar door Zenjou can see the pure white wall and the light brown wardrobe.

A strain huh? This will be a new experience.

The sight that meets him is angelic.

The girl had messy, shoulder length black hair, puller back by a white bandana. Her simplistic room had a black and white theme.

And her eyes were a startling shade of blue. She looked like a statue with sapphires for eyes, and marble for skin.

The petite child raised her head from her book, her thick glasses dimming the blue shine.

Zenjou crossed the compact room in three strides, bending down to shake the girl's hand.

"Hello. I'm Zenjou Gouki from Sceptre-4."

For a moment, the girls eyes flicker to his blue clothes.

"I'm Haruhi."

The girl took his hand.


End file.
